WAYNE Brown was happy with the character his Colchester United side showed after they recovered to win 2-1 at Harrogate Town this afternoon.

Goals from Noah Chilvers and Freddie Sears saw the U’s come from behind to win at the EnviroVent Stadium, after Jack Muldoon had given the hosts a fourth-minute lead.

Colchester made a sluggish start to the game, with Harrogate looking strong in the opening stages.

But the U’s fought back well and managed the game professionally in the second half to record victory and leave themselves 11 points above the League Two relegation zone, with six games of the season remaining.

Brown said: “It was a vital win.

“Today, the points were a lot more important than the performance.

“It’s more points on the board which is what we need, given the position that we find ourselves in.

“It’s always a tough place to come.

“We weren’t at our best today for large spells of the game but we found a way to show two or three bits of quality, score two goals from those bits of quality and I thought we managed the game reasonably well in a shape where we were hard to break down.

"I thought our turnovers with the ball today were poor and we didn't show enough quality for large spells of the game but when we did, we looked a threat.

“I thought the lads showed good character, after not starting the game very well.

“Sometimes it happens in football, as frustrating as it is (that you have a slow start).

“You give them the detail throughout the week and the clips before the game and we knew that they were going to be a high intensity team, especially here.

“That’s what they rely on; they’re very direct, they have loads of runners gambling from their directness and it’s something that we struggled with, both first contact and second contact.

"We didn't compete, we didn't win first and second contacts, we didn't track runners and they were getting in at will.

“We had to dig deep and to go in at half-time 2-1 up was extremely pleasing, because we didn’t perform.

“But we did a lot better in the second half and showed a little bit more quality, with the ball.

“We didn’t turn it over as much and we could have scored another one with Hanno (Luke Hannant) on the back stick and nullified them to few clearcut opportunities."

Brown was delighted for leading scorer Sears, who got back on the scoring trail having not scored for two months.

Brown added: "I'm chuffed to bits for Freddie, because he's worked extremely hard up there today on his own at times and probably felt a little bit isolated.

"He's obviously gone through a little bit of a goal drought aswell so to show the composure and the quality in front of goal when he does get through is exceptional.

"But we know what Freddie can do; he has that quality and hopefully that gives him that kick start for the remaining six games."